and other conservatives said the white house has cooked the books.evenjackwelch, theformer ceo of ge went on twitter to accuse the president of changing the numbers. >> i tell you, these numbers don't smell right when you think about where the economy is right now. >> reporter: the labor department called the allegations ludicrous. we went directly to the place where it's all done. this vast government building, a couple of miles from the white house, houses the labor department's bureau of labor stay twist icks. the bls has been tabulating the rate for more than 70 years. all based on a survey conducted in person and over the phone of 60,000 households every month. and here is where the numbers get crunched. amid a sea of cubicles, inside of each one, an economist sworn to secrecy and working on a specific aspect of that employment survey. tom is in charge here. he's worked at bls since before ronald reagan was president. he introduced us to the economist who actually wrote this morning's unemployment rate announcement. how much of a secret is that number before you put it out? y

jackwelch. whatdoes it say about partisanship in the country? >> it says that it starts to rot people's brains. the theory is just -- we need a good name for this. i nominate job nutters. but this really is ridiculous. this is -- first things first, this is good news for the country. and, yes, it benefits the president because it adds to argument. it takes away the argument that unemployment rate's been over 8%. it's a positive sign for the country. and frankly, it gives the president a boost in the wake of a terrible debate performance. but bottom line, it's a sign that the trend is moving away from the debt sweep we've dealt with. >> let me pick up on that. some democrats are saying what debate? how much of a boost does it really give the president, given the lackluster nature of his performance the other night? >> it doesn't give the president a do-over. he had a lousily first debate. that hurts. it's not determinative. the economy's issue number one. this is a boost. it helps change the topic. but it doesn't erase that first debate. the president has to have a great perform